Aside from the, inevitable, consolidation the main theme at Milan Furniture Fair 2019, and the one which occupied us much more than that which was on show for our perusal, is/was the international furniture industry's increasing hunger for data; a hunger which embodied itself at Milan 2019 in a exponential surge in the number of manufacturers requiring potential stand visitors to either pre-register, submit a business card or have their Fair ticket scanned before being allowed onto the stand.
read moreAs older readers will be well aware, little gets us down quite like Milan Furniture Fair. Every year our only wish as we cross the Alps is that we will find something to make us thankful that we did. Milan Furniture Fair 2017 produced more such moments than the average year, which we suppose means we'll be back next year!! Our Milan Furniture Fair 2017 High Five!! Linea Perch Stool by Wesley Walters & Salla Luhtasela for Nikari Back at Neocon 2016 we bemoaned the lack of objects in public
read moreIt's been a good long while since we last posted about the Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe's kkaarrlls collection, and thus ambling down Milan's Via Palermo towards the kkaarrlls 2016 Edition showcase we inevitably found ourselves querying why that should be....... Not least because ever since we stumbled by chance across the first kkaarrlls showcase at Milan 2009 it has been a project we have liked, enjoyed and followed. If latterly only from afar. Given how much we admire kkaarrlls, we
read moreEstablished in 2002 Danish label HAY have quickly risen to become an important player in the European furniture and home accessories market, and in many ways have also served as the archetype for the innumerable new labels that have sprung up across the continent in the last five to six years. Yet to judge by the scale, breadth and obvious cost of their presentation at Milan 2016 HAY are clearly not planning resting on their laurels any time soon: here is brand, we were informed, moving up a
read moreTo the casual observer selecting five outstanding products from the Milan Furniture Fair is a neigh on impossible task, so great is the number of potential candidates. "How", asks our casual observer, "are you going to select just five?!?!" For the seasoned attendee selecting five outstanding products from the Milan Furniture Fair is a neigh on impossible task, because the vast majority of articles on show are anything but outstanding. And those which are are invariably older, established
read moreIn little under a week the Doors of Hell will once again open to release Milan Design Week on our unsympathetic, unapologetic world. The normally pleasant, quiet and reasonably priced Lombardian metropolis will be overrun by molten rivers of corporate greed and naive student hope, transforming the canals, parks and former industrial sites into burning pits of contradiction, imitation and pure gold. Survival is a question of ignoring reality and convincing yourself that everything is brilliant
read moreWe're fairly certain we posed this question last year - but proudly do so again. Is Milan Design Week still relevant - or is it just a big waste of time, money and resources? The question raises its head because we are currently sitting here planning firstly if we're going to go and secondly if so in what sort of numbers and with what aims. Last year we collected a few opinions on the purpose and function of Milan Design Week and Salone Milano- and among other comments Ronan Bouroullec mused
read more